Here’s a look at 10 keys to the Toronto-Cleveland ALCS, which kicks off on Friday night.

1. First blood

It’s always a good thing to score first in a baseball game. Historically, the team that scores first wins something like 70% of the games. But when you’re facing a team like Cleveland, with an excellent bullpen and an aggressive manager like Terry Francona who knows his best chance with a threadbare starting rotation is to get a lead then protect it like the Crown Jewels, it is imperative to get an early advantage. When they lost Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar to injuries in September, they lost 40% of their starting rotation, but they still had a strong bullpen. Against Boston, Francona used that bullpen aggressively in two of the three games for the sweep.

2. Cleveland bullpen

Over the course of the regular season, Cleveland’s relief corps pitched to a 3.45 ERA, second only to the Baltimore Orioles in that department. Cody Allen, Dan Otero and Bryan Shaw combined to throw more than 200 innings with a 2.43 ERA between them. Allen finished the season with 32 saves. Otero was a workhorse, pitching 70 innings with a 1.53 ERA and just 10 walks in 62 games. They were bolstered at the trade deadline when Cleveland acquired hard-throwing lefty Andrew Miller from the Yankees. His arrival opened up a variety of options for Francona down the stretch and into the playoffs, especially in light of his injury-riddled starting staff.

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3. Andrew Miller

Miller is one of the best relievers in the game, combining a 98-mph fastball with a wipeout slider from the left side. Over the past three seasons, his stats are mind-boggling. He has appeared in 203 games for Boston, Baltimore, the Yankees and now Cleveland. He has logged 198.1 innings and allowed 108 hits and 46 walks with an ERA of 1.82. Most importantly, he considers himself a pitcher, not just a closer. He has encouraged Francona to use him in any way the manager sees fit, which makes him rather special. Most back-end relievers don’t want any part of an appearance without a save at the end of the line, but he has become a special weapon for Cleveland to use at any time and for as long as he can go.

4. Starters go deep

No starting staff in baseball logged as many innings as did the Blue Jays rotation. Toronto starters pitched 995 innings this season, six more than the Cubs, whose staff was second in innings-pitched. Each of the primary four who will start games in the playoffs — Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez — averaged between 18 and 20 outs per start over the course of the regular season. Against Cleveland, with their quick-strike attitude, it will be imperative the Jays’ pitchers continue to deliver those kinds of quality starts to prevent their opponents from taking a lead into the middle and late innings, when they have proven to be difficult to overcome.

Ask any of Toronto’s starting pitchers what has made them so effective this year and they will point to the eight defensive players that surround them on the field. Advanced defensive metrics indicate the Toronto defence has combined for 28 defensive runs saved this season, good for eighth place in MLB, ahead of ninth-place Cleveland, which had 17 defensive runs saved. Pitchers will tell you they are unafraid to throw any pitch in any count to any batter because they know they can rely on their defenders to not only make the routine plays, but also to take hits away. The ability for a team to do that allows pitchers to economize on their pitch counts. In a short series, stealing outs can be the difference between winning and losing.

6. Speed kills

In many areas, Toronto and Cleveland match up equally, but on the basepaths, Cleveland has a decided edge. You can count on them trying to exploit that edge aggressively in this series. Over the course of the regular season, Cleveland stole 134 bases. The Blue Jays stole 54. That’s a difference of 80 stolen bases and the Jays have to take steps to combat that. Even though Toronto has one of the best throwing catchers in the game in Russell Martin, he is coming off a season in which he allowed 61 steals and caught only 11 base runners. That 15% caught-stealing rate is the worst of his career. What that says is Toronto’s pitchers have to be better at holding runners and at varying their times to the plate to keep them guessing. If not, Cleveland could run wild in this series.

7. Corey Kluber

Kluber is the ace of the Cleveland starting staff, but with the loss of No. 2 starter Carrasco and No. 3 Salazar, there is more pressure on him than usual. As good as Kluber is with his 18-9 record, 3.14 ERA and 1.056 WHIP, the Blue Jays have been one of the teams that gives him trouble. This season, in two starts against Toronto, he has logged just 10 innings, allowing 11 hits, eight walks and seven earned runs for a 6.30 ERA. In his career, Kluber has faced Toronto five times with a 5.34 ERA. If the Jays get to him in Game 1, the next time he could pitch would be on short rest in Game 4. In between, Trevor Bauer (4.26 ERA) and Josh Tomlin (4.40 ERA) are the choices for Francona in Games 2 and 3.

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8. Pass the baton

In a season of inconsistent offensive production, the Blue Jays seem to have found their stride in October, just when it matters most. They are working on a six-game winning streak and the lineup during this stretch has been reminiscent of the 2015 Jays, who came off the team bus swinging. The difference right now is players are taking unselfish at-bats, making pitchers work hard by only swinging at strikes and adjusting their free-wheeling approach when they get two strikes on them. This is still a slugging team. They have six players with 20 or more homers and they will continue to rely on the long ball, but it’s those adjustments late in at-bats that are making the difference as they keep the line moving.

9. Switch hitters

Francona can send out a lineup that has as many as four switch-hitters. That can pose a problem, especially when it comes to matching up out of the bullpen. Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Carlos Santana all have solid production from both sides of the plate. Lindor might be slightly more vulnerable against right-handed pitching and virtually all of Santana’s power (30 out of 34 HR) comes from the left side of the plate, but John Gibbons is going to have his hands full trying the get the matchups he wants with so many switch hitters in the lineup. The fourth switch hitter is Coco Crisp, who is decidedly vulnerable to left-handed pitching, but he is in the minority on this Cleveland team.

10. Aaron Sanchez

Sanchez will probably stay under wraps until Game 4, but having a starter of such high quality waiting in the wings at what could be a crucial point in the series is a true luxury that gives Toronto an edge. Sanchez, the AL’s ERA leader (3.00) in the regular season, may have been a bit too strong in his last start against Texas when he had some difficulty with command of all his pitches. But it would be a surprise if he wasn’t his old self in his next start, having gotten rid of the butterflies that go with your first-ever playoff start. Sanchez had pitched in last year’s playoffs, but as a reliever, and that’s an entirely different assignment. He will only get one start in this series, but it could be an important shot in the arm for the Jays.